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Water Resources Board approves easement offers for Thompson Lane widening
Summary
The Water Resources Board approved sending easement offers for roughly half of the properties needed along Thompson Lane for a TDOT-funded widening project, authorizing payments including voluntary 10% incentives and minimum temporary-easement amounts.
The Water Resources Board on May 27 approved sending easement offers to property owners along Thompson Lane to support a Tennessee Department of Transportation-funded road-widening project between Memorial and Broad Street.
Board action authorizes staff to begin offers on the first half of the properties for which permanent and temporary construction-easement descriptions are available, with staff reporting roughly 80 easements to acquire as part of a larger set linked to the TDOT project.
Valerie (Staff member) told the board the city used county assessor land values as initial offers and has estimated temporary-construction easement areas where descriptions were not yet completed. She said TDOT agreed the city did not need full appraisals and review appraisals for every parcel — a process legal staff said could otherwise add four to six months — because TDOT is providing $1,750,000 toward water relocations and $1,750,000 toward sewer relocations tied to the project.
Staff presented an estimate table that separates permanent-easement value and temporary-easement value, and shows an option to include a 10% voluntary-conveyance incentive for owners who sign instead of proceeding to condemnation. The spreadsheet in the board packet listed about $460,000 for permanent easements and $136,000 for temporary easements for the parcels shown (total about $597,000), and a total of roughly $688,000 if the 10% voluntary incentive is applied. For very small temporary-easement amounts, staff proposed a $1,000 minimum offer instead of cents or single-digit dollar amounts shown by assessor-derived calculations.
Board members discussed whether to approve only the first half of parcels or approve the entire estimated program now. A motion to approve proceeding with the offers and authorization as presented was made and seconded; the board voted in favor and the motion carried.
Board members and staff said they will return with a refined total once the remaining temporary-easement descriptions are completed by the engineer. TDOT plans to advertise and bid the roadway project this fall, and staff noted the timeline gives only several months to complete easement acquisitions before construction procurement.
The action will be funded from the Water Resources working capital reserves as presented to the board. Staff said they will continue to bring updated totals to the board as additional temporary-easement descriptions and refined appraisals are finished.
